Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > comp.sys.apple2 > #24951

Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000!

Show all headers | View raw

On Mon, 1 Jun 2015, Michael J. Mahon wrote:

> Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> wrote:
>> In article <alpine.LNX.2.02.1505312230550.4208@darkstar.example.org>,
>> Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> wrote:
>>
>>> On Sun, 31 May 2015, Don wrote:
>>>
>>>> She didn't know it was an Apple I.  I wonder if anyone knows the person
>>>> who passed away.......
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> https://www.yahoo.com/tech/s/woman-tosses-apple-computer-turns-worth-200k-02
>>>> 0430601.html
>>>>
>>> I find it interesting that the place sold the computer, and now feels they
>>> should offer some of the money to her.  Why not try to find her first?
>>> Maybe she'd think twice about donating it if she knew better.
>>
>> According to the newspaper article, it's their policy to give half back
>> to the person who dropped the item in.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> That's one of my fears.  If people throw things out, I may not see it, but
>>> it seems like less and less electronics is showing up at garage and
>>> rummage sales, or in the garbage.  I assume it's going to "electronic
>>> recyclers".  But I dont' trust them.  Will they actually notice that
>>> something is valuable?  Or will the "valuable" they notice be the most
>>> recent computers that come in? Lots of people are interested in old
>>> electronics, to collect or use, or even pull apart for parts.  But since
>>> it's not going to traditional outlets, I worry that most will get
>>> "trashed" because nobody notices it has some value.
>>
>> It's not just garage sales, rubbish bins, etc. I picked up a couple of
>> "Limited Edition" numbered, steel-case DVDs a couple of weeks ago from
>> the bargain tables of the local shop. They cost NZ$3 each and both were
>> numbered less than 100.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> A couple of years ago, I got a TomTom One GPS at a Rotary CLub garage
>>> sale, for ten dollars.  It was over in the "sports" section, looking
>>> forlorn and I sure didn't notice what it was other than an LCD screen
>>> until I looked close.  I'm not sure how that landed there, but I'd much
>>> rather have the chance at it than it just going directly to "recycling".
>>>
>>> Same Rotary Club sale a few years back.  There was a portable radio,
>>> someone looking at it and I feared they'd get it.  But they put it down.
>>> It's a Grundig Satellite 700 shortwave radio, fairly top of the line when
>>> it came out. I look at the price, it seemed to be "$2.50" but that can't
>>> be, must be $25", but no, it was "2.50".  Of course I grabbed it. But if
>>> they couldn't see the value in it, that it was different from the other
>>> portable radios there, then it almost could have been tossed before the
>>> sale began.
>>>
>>> So it was really lucky that someone who knew recognized this Apple I.
>>
>> The various second-hand book sales (which usually includes all sorts of
>> other stuff too) such as those by Rotary are planning to be ended here
>> soon due to lack of sales, too much expense, both in venue hireage and
>> volunteer time. I have picked up a few good buys over the years, but
>> much of it is rubbish.
>
> And, having had recent experience with a book reseller, I can report that
> anything that doesn't "look like it will sell" is recycled--in my case,
> that was over half of my donation.
>
> Ironically (tragically?), much the same decimation process is applied by
> many libraries. ;-(

There was this great period when pocket size paperbacks ruled.  You could 
get just about anything in that format, it wsa cheap to print, it was 
cheap to buy.  So I have that Penguin pocket size paperback about radio 
astronomy, or that late fifties pocket paperback about model rocketry.

That sort of thing seems to be drying up.  In part since the form isn't 
being used except for fiction that are bestsellers.

I bought a book about the Battle of the Bulge, the pages were falling out 
as I finished, but for fifty cents or a dollar, I learned more than I 
needed about that period.  I didnt' have to have the latest bestselling 
history book about the battle.

Or, at one sale I found a pocket paperback of the history of the NAACP, 
for the fiftieth anniversary in the early sixties.  I'm interested in that 
sort of thing, so I buy it for fifty cents.  I get home, and see it's 
written by Langston Hughes, and when I open it, it seems that he 
autographed it.  That's way more interesting, the topic and the author, 
than some recent book that someone with a barcode reader can harvest to 
sell at a higher price on the internet (I've seen them, they ruffle 
through the books, checking the barcodes until one is worth enough).

Some books shouldn't have been published, some were overpublished (I still 
see copies of that Alvin Toffler book), but there are still plenty of 
interesting books, that simply require the right person to come along. 
That's often me (just like when the Rotary Club would have interesting 
electronics at their "garage sale", I once got a circuit board for a few 
dollars that was clearly an eprom programmer).  I'm less and less finding 
such things at the sales, so they lose that money.

On the other hand, I do understand how disappointing it can be to have a 
sale and then lots left over.

   Michael

Back to comp.sys.apple2 | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Don <coach41@pacbell.net> - 2015-05-31 16:21 -0700
  Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2015-05-31 22:37 -0400
    Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2015-06-01 16:23 +1200
      Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Michael J. Mahon <mjmahon@aol.com> - 2015-06-01 02:33 -0500
        Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2015-06-01 10:36 -0400
          Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2015-06-02 09:24 +1200
        Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2015-06-02 09:19 +1200
      Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Bruce Esquibel <bje@ripco.com> - 2015-06-01 11:22 +0000
        Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Eric Rucker <bhtooefr@gmail.com> - 2015-06-01 05:20 -0700
        Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2015-06-02 09:27 +1200
      Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2015-06-01 10:28 -0400
        Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2015-06-02 09:42 +1200
          Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Tom Porter <laseractiveguy@gmail.com> - 2015-06-01 17:20 -0700
            Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Steve Nickolas <usotsuki@buric.co> - 2015-06-02 02:37 +0200
              Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Tom Porter <laseractiveguy@gmail.com> - 2015-06-01 17:45 -0700
              Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Tom Porter <laseractiveguy@gmail.com> - 2015-06-01 17:54 -0700
            Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2015-06-02 13:42 +1200
      Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Denis Molony <denisbytezone@gmail.com> - 2015-06-07 17:28 -0700
      Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! K-K00L <K-K00L@nomail.com> - 2015-06-08 10:53 -0400
    Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Steven Hirsch <snhirsch@gmail.com> - 2015-06-01 07:55 -0400
      Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2015-06-01 10:39 -0400
        Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2015-06-02 09:37 +1200
      Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2015-06-02 09:30 +1200
        Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! K-K00L <K-K00L@nsa.gov> - 2015-06-02 14:08 -0400
  Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! D Finnigan <dog_cow@macgui.com> - 2015-06-01 19:55 +0000
  Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Lukazi <lukazi@hotmail.com> - 2015-06-02 20:27 -0700
    Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Michael J. Mahon <mjmahon@aol.com> - 2015-06-03 02:56 -0500
      Re: Woman Donates Computer.....worth $200,000! Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2015-06-04 09:03 +1200

csiph-web